We took as our main starting point the keyword "locality", as we felt that it is what ties in the rest of our chosen keywords. "Ethnicity" is usually based on a particular place, hence the obvious association with "locality". An example of a performance form linked to ethnicity/culture is "gule", a Malawian traditional performance (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/ams-group-c-definition-gule.html). However, expanding the most basic idea of ethnicity, we also note that ethnicity can be what binds people together across great distances and gives people a sense of identity - especially relevant in diasporic communities all over the world today. However, we have Amsterdam's interesting challenge to the idea of ethnicity, in (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/ethnicity-keyword-challenge-amsterdam.html), which highlights the different levels at which the term "ethnicity" can be employed - the idea of an "Asian" ethnicity, as shown, is obviously problematic.
So, to what extent is the idea of ethnicity important in today's globalised society? This brings us to our next keyword, "globalisation". Globalisation can be seen as the main force in tension with "locality", and by extension, "ethnicity". Globalisation has been applauded or criticised, depending on whose point of view we consider. On one hand, globalisation leads to "alterations in humanity's experiences of space and time [which] are working to undermine the importance of local and even national boundaries in many arenas of human endeavor" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/globalization/). On the other hand, the local can also be seen as extremely important, even in the age of globalisation, in the exchange of cultural knowledge that comes with globalisation.
"Demographic" and "beauty" are keywords that we felt illustrate the tensions between "locality" and "globalisation". As Warwick group 3's challenge points out (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/warwick-group-3-keywords-stu-and.html), demographic studies often ignore local specifics in favour of generalising on a more global level. The concept of "beauty" is very abstract, as various discussions on the blog have shown. One of the questions raised was to what extent beauty is culture-specific (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/response-to-beauty-by-group-helsinki.html). At the same time, there seems to be some "universal" idea of beauty, as the composite pictures in the same post seem to indicate. Does this mean that beauty is also becoming globalised?
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We took as our main starting point the keyword "locality", as we felt that it is what ties in the rest of our chosen keywords. "Ethnicity" is usually based on a particular place, hence the obvious association with "locality". An example of a performance form linked to ethnicity/culture is "gule", a Malawian traditional performance (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/ams-group-c-definition-gule.html). However, expanding the most basic idea of ethnicity, we also note that ethnicity can be what binds people together across great distances and gives people a sense of identity - especially relevant in diasporic communities all over the world today. However, we have Amsterdam's interesting challenge to the idea of ethnicity, in (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/ethnicity-keyword-challenge-amsterdam.html), which highlights the different levels at which the term "ethnicity" can be employed - the idea of an "Asian" ethnicity, as shown, is obviously problematic.
So, to what extent is the idea of ethnicity important in today's globalised society? This brings us to our next keyword, "globalisation". Globalisation can be seen as the main force in tension with "locality", and by extension, "ethnicity". Globalisation has been applauded or criticised, depending on whose point of view we consider. On one hand, globalisation leads to "alterations in humanity's experiences of space and time [which] are working to undermine the importance of local and even national boundaries in many arenas of human endeavor" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/globalization/). On the other hand, the local can also be seen as extremely important, even in the age of globalisation, in the exchange of cultural knowledge that comes with globalisation.
"Demographic" and "beauty" are keywords that we felt illustrate the tensions between "locality" and "globalisation". As Warwick group 3's challenge points out (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/warwick-group-3-keywords-stu-and.html), demographic studies often ignore local specifics in favour of generalising on a more global level. The concept of "beauty" is very abstract, as various discussions on the blog have shown. One of the questions raised was to what extent beauty is culture-specific (http://maipr08.blogspot.com/2008/09/response-to-beauty-by-group-helsinki.html). At the same time, there seems to be some "universal" idea of beauty, as the composite pictures in the same post seem to indicate. Does this mean that beauty is also becoming globalised?
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